Most individuals now, or in the near future will, have at least two telephone numbers through which they make or receive calls on a regular basis. One of these telephone numbers is usually associated with a local access provider while the other is usually associated with a cellular service provider. The connectivity from the local access provider is to the traditional fixed telephone network (oftentimes referred to as the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN)) while the connectivity from the cellular service provider is to the cellular network (CN). For discussion purposes below, let Nf and Nc respectively denote the telephone number for a particular user to the fixed and cellular network.
The calls made from Nf are usually of lower cost than those made or received from Nc because the call is routed over the fixed network and therefore does not make use of the limited wireless bandwidth. However, once a call has been initiated on the fixed network, the user has very little mobility; a cordless phone may allow the user to move 50–100 meters from the base of the phone without significant deterioration in the voice quality. However, a user can move in a wide geographical area if a user could transfer an on-going call originated over the fixed network to the cellular network. A point of departure from the prior art in accordance with the present invention is a new call transfer service called the Cellular-Fixed Call Transfer Service (CFCTS) which can be offered by the cellular network provider to allow users to transfer on-going calls between the his/her fixed and cellular telephone numbers.
The CFCTS service benefits both the user and the service provider. The user benefits because he/she can use the lower cost calls through the fixed network whenever possible without sacrificing mobility. The service provider also benefits because as users switch over to fixed network from cellular whenever possible, the limited capacity of the cellular network can support other users. More customers will also be attracted to this lower cost service with full support for mobility. Also, when a user transfers a call from his/her Nf to Nc the cellular network provider gains additional business.